Bumps & Bruises
Troublesome Room Setups
by John Kinde

From the platform I needed binoculars to see the front row of tables. Sometimes meeting rooms are set up by the same people who designed the placement of loud speakers directly over the airport pay phones.

I arrived two hours before my program. The room had been setup with the first row of tables about 40 feet from the speaking platform. This means that every member of the audience would be 30 feet further from the presentation than they should be. You lose intimacy with the front row, and connection with the back row becomes an even greater challenge. Even as tall as I am, speaking from the floor was still not a good option for an audience numbering 400.

The hotel staff told me they had insufficient help to reconfigure the tables which were already fully set. I said, "That’s no problem, I’ll move them myself," and started moving chairs. They figured that I was going to do it anyway, so eight of them pitched in and helped me rearrange the room in about 10 minutes. The trick is to lift the back row of tables up and carry them around to the front. Rinse and repeat until the front gap is filled and 85% of the room won’t have to be touched.

Before taking total charge of the room, it is also a good idea to see if there is a good reason why the room is configured the way it is. If the large open area is set for a dance floor, then it might be easier to move the speaking platform toward the audience. Let’s see, did I plan to have people dance during my seminar? Hmm, that would be pretty funny! But maybe not this time.

The Lesson: It is a good idea to give the meeting planner specific setup instructions, in advance, which include diagrams of good and bad room arrangements. I now do this all the time. In fact, now I send two copies to the meeting planner, one marked YOUR COPY and one marked HOTEL COPY to encourage them to share the information with the banquet manager.